Episode #834
January 25, 2025
At the very least a journeyman’s helper must have an interest in the trade.
The helper’s job is not glamorous and can be downright boring. His/her focus is to observe. When given a request, the helper complies quickly and to the best of their ability. The more the helper learns the better they can anticipate the needs of the journeyman.
The journeyman’s job is to teach, appreciate and love the helper. If the helper knew everything he would be the journeyman. Patience is a teacher’s primary tool. Articulating his/her needs is the journeyman’s best and essential skill.
“Hold this end of the tape measure, here. Bury one inch.”
“Bury?”
“Line the one inch mark up with the edge of the wood. I will deduct the inch from my measurement. The end of the tape measure is less accurate than the graduations on the tape.”
“I will hold this piece here. Grab a 20” squeeze clamp.”
“Where are the clamps?”
“In the clamp department… just kidding. They are on the west wall behind the lumber rack.”
“Set the table saw up for 1 5/8” rips and cut 10 pieces from that lumber.”
The helper sets the width from the tape measure on the saw fence.
“Never trust the fence measure. Measure with your tape from the fence to the inside of the blade here… and here.”
Most of the time the helper just stands and observes. Learning is the most important part of his job. The architectural mill I worked at had an apprentice program. Every six months the apprentice was interviewed and tested on a set of skills. If he had mastered those skills he continued as an apprentice. If he failed, he was fired. After two years of continual learning the apprentice became a journeyman. The goal of the shop was to have an all journeyman staff. This way any journeyman could be handed a job. That person would organize a team and accomplish the job with the help of his fellow journeymen and apprentices.
A journeyman is so named because traditionally they journeyed from shop to shop chasing the work projects. The shop I worked at for 15 years kept their journeymen, even when there was no work. During these down times the staff built work benches, storage units and jigs. When a salesman brought in a job the shop was fully staffed and could hit the project running. Apprentices were laid off during these down times, but brought back as soon as there was work. They would pick up with their training where they left off.
My favorite coworkers were the helper apprentices. They were my left hand in the critical moments that I needed them. The shop owners invested a great deal of time and money in the apprentice program. That is how much they valued their staff of journeymen.
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Is it true that one carpenter apprentence job turned him into a religious leader rather than a journeyman? Rick, you were born 2,000 years too late. Brother ken.
I can relate! I have taught so many apprentices in my 26 years of corrugated design….and it’s funny, we measured things at the 1″ of the tape and when we forgot to minus the 1″ from the total, we would say ” shit, i forgot to burn the inch!”
Burn/bury….small world!